


Clockwork Resonance

by ThreeAM



Category: Homestuck, Soul Eater
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friendship, High School, Homestuck Characters in Soul Eater setting, Jam sessions, Memory Loss, Pre-established relationship (Rose and Kanaya), Romance, The violence or references to violence may disturb some people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-03 06:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2841590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThreeAM/pseuds/ThreeAM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where some people have the ability to transform into weapons, where others have the ability to wield them, where corrupted beings called kishin terrorize the populace and witches wage passive war on society, Dave Strider has it all going for him. He's a badass sword-gun who's consumed 99 kishin souls, and soon he and his Meister, Gamzee, will go and kill a witch, whose soul will finally make him into the most powerful kind of weapon -- a Death Scythe. Sure, he has no memory of his past before two years ago, his Meister is a detached weirdo and his only other friends are a pair of snarky girlfriends who constantly canoodle in front of him, but it's okay, because killing a witch and eating her soul will make it all better. Well that was the plan, anyway.</p>
<p>What he didn't plan on was recognizing someone for the first time in two years. Just his luck; that someone was the witch they were out to kill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act 1, Part 1 - Defiance

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I have been tossing this idea around in my head for a while now, and i think i've finally found a direction for it. With any luck, no prior knowledge of the Soul Eater or Homestuck universes should be too necessary for anyone new to either fandom. I'll try and explain the SE universe in as simple terms as possible. I have also changed a few rules, and made up a few as well, for the purposes of the story. If you're still confused about how anything works after the first few chapters, feel free to ask! And wherever this story takes its course, i hope you all can enjoy it!

The streets of Skaia City were silent, damp and chilly at 2:48 AM, undisturbed except for the dying howl of a kishin echoing through the streets. One would think such a mess would cause a ruckus, but the residents by now were used to it. Putting up with kids running around slaying monsters was a small price to pay for the protection that these demon slayers in training, and their school, offered from the likes of Witches and corrupted souls.

Two boys stood in a cobblestone street, standing over their victim’s corpse. One was tall and slender, his arms toned with sinew and a mass of dark, unkempt hair sitting like a halo around his face. The other, similar in build to the first but not as tall and fairer, was crouched on the ground, taking a hold of the ebbing sphere that hung in the air above the corpse, and tipping his head back to drop the supernatural object down his throat. Though this object – the soul of the creature – left no residue, he wiped his mouth anyway before standing up to face his Meister.

“That’s number Ninety-Nine, then.” It wasn’t a question. The blonde ran a hand through his hair, careful not to knock the dark tinted shades that covered his eyes, even at night.   
“Yeah it is. How’s it feel brother?” The taller boy, Gamzee, loosely clapped his weapon on the back.   
“No different. Not until we kill our witch, anyhow.” His reply was coupled with a concerned shift of his gaze, turning toward the towering shadow of the SWMA – Skaian Weapon and Meister Academy – silhouetted against the dark blue night sky.

Dave was Gamzee’s weapon, and Gamzee was Dave’s Meister. They were both attendees at this school, their purpose to learn to work together and slay the corrupted monsters, called kishin, that plagued their lives and their city. The body that lay before them was one as such, or had been, until Dave, a boy with the ability to transform his body into a weapon to be wielded by his Meister, had consumed it.

This was not unusual – almost all the students at SWMA were paired in Weapon-Meister duos. Their goals were to learn to work together, to hone their souls to work together effectively, and to slay kishin. Once they got to 99 kishins devoured by the weapon, they would ask permission to collect their 100th. The 100th soul had to be that of a witch. If this was achieved, Dave would become a Death Scythe – a weapon able to more freely change its form and able to be wielded by meisters with stronger than average souls.

“Well brother, there’s one out there with our name on it” Gamzee’s lazy slur was confident as they both began to head back to their apartment. They dormed together with another duo, not too far from their current location. With any luck, they’d get just enough sleep to be able to function somewhat normally tomorrow.

In the meantime, Dave tried to enjoy the feeling of being so close to achieving something so amazing for a pair as young as they. Though to be fair, Dave had an advantage. Two years ago, he’d stumbled into SWMA with no memories of who he was or how he got there. The Headmaster was a charitable man, took him in, paired him with a meister who had yet to be paired due to his lazy and closed off nature, but they seemed to get along fine – neither wanted to get personal with one another, and in that respect they understood each other. And, with no memories to fuel any other goals for his future, Dave set his determined sights on becoming the honourable Death Scythe. And now, he was nearly there. 

//

“Rose dear, I finished it!” Rose, sitting on her comfy chair in the Academy’s library, smiled at the sound of her Meister’s approach. She felt a soft kiss on top of her head before the willowy girl settled in the seat across from her. The dark-haired girl dug into her tote bag, produced her books for their upcoming text, and a small copy of The Catcher in the Rye, to slide it across the table to Rose.

“Kanaya,” Rose said softly in greeting, stowing the book carefully into her own bag. “How’d you find it?”  
“I think it was much more enjoyable once I thought about it. It’s an easy book to misunderstand, I think.” Kanaya smiled at her, and then flicked through her notes. “Ready for the exam?”  
“Have been for weeks,” Rose replied, flicking the page of Howl’s Moving Castle in her hand with a prideful quirk of the eyebrow. “Yourself?”  
“Well, neither of us have ever had any trouble with Soul Resonance.” 

Truth be told, Kanaya and Rose were the top student in their year, first to get Soul Resonance down. When a meister and weapon fought together, their souls touched to share feelings and energy. Soul Resonance was an advanced manipulation of this bond, making the wavelengths of the two souls parallel, so the energy flowed more strongly and the souls were in sync, allowing for more powerful moves which could turn the tide of a battle. It was difficult, and while Rose and Kanaya had only killed enough kishin to count on one hand, they were an unshakeable pair. Meanwhile, the star killers Gamzee and Dave were nearly at their Witch Slaying level, last she checked, but had never successfully resonated. Maybe they were good enough to not need it, but there was no way the headmaster was letting them go after a witch when their connection with each other, while friendly, was basic and stiff. Soul Resonance relied strongly on the relationship between Meister and Weapon, and that was something you couldn’t fake.

As if on cue, Rose brought the pair up. “Did you hear? Dave consumed his 99th kishin soul. They’ve submitted.”  
“But Headmaster Egbert will never let them,” Kanaya said surely, leaning forward and lowering her voice on the off chance that either of them could be in the room. “They can’t… they’re not…”  
“Hmm. I agree wholeheartedly, but considering the obscure wavelength of Gamzee’s soul and Dave’s… circumstances….” Rose shrugged. “Perhaps he’ll give them a chance, but I don’t know if he will. Being individually good and having the ability to cooperate is one thing. Being truly resonant, on compatible wavelengths, is another. They both got the short straw with their pairings, I think.”  
“Well, whatever we think, we’re none to talk. Besides, it’s all up to the Headmaster now.”

Kanaya sighed and leaned over her notes, stealing a few glances at Rose’s peaceful expression as she read. An expression she loved to see. While the young Meister was giving her weapon googly eyes, Gamzee and Dave stood bleary-eyed in the Headmaster’s office, listening to their fate.

//

Headmaster Egbert was a man who dressed professionally and enjoyed vintage décor. Despite how tight-assed this might make him look, however, he was quite a nice man. So he had the grace, at least, to turn the boys down gently.

“I am sorry, boys. I really am. But I don’t feel like you’re ready yet. A weapon that has never even resonated yet can’t go off fighting witches. Kishin are one thing, but witches have been an uncontrolled menace to our society for generations. It’s foolhardy to think you can fluke your way through a battle with a witch.”

The guy looked apologetic enough, and though Dave wanted to argue, he knew he was right. He and his Meister were bros, but you needed to be besties with a complete understanding of one another for it to truly work. Their worst mistake was thinking they could keep up their emotionally constipated relationship and expect it to work out for them. Foolhardy was right.

“Headmaster man, you’re making a motherfuckin mistake. We can do it, just cause we don’t need that resonance shit—“  
“It’s not about needing it, Mr Makara. A doctor may never have to stitch up a toe in his entire career, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have to know how to be a doctor, no?” The man sighed, looking about as forlorn ad Dave was. “I’m sorry, but I’m forced to suspend your right to slay a witch until I’m more convinced of your aptitude with connecting with each other. Do you understand?”

There was a long silence filling the room. Gamzee seemed to be uncharacteristically seething, but Dave held a hand out to stop him from making it worse. “We understand, Headmaster. We’ll try our best to… to improve to your standards.” Dave was frustrated, but he knew how to be diplomatic when he needed to be, and right now diplomacy meant getting Gamzee outta there.

However, as soon as they left, Gamzee disappeared down the hall. Dave knew he’d heard him calling, but the guy just up and bolted, curious students staring after him and giving Dave looks. Well, word would spread and he’d be embarrassed out of his mind, and now Gamzee was kicking up a stink. At least, he supposed, their 99 souls hadn’t been taken. That he had to be thankful for at least. 

//

Later that night, Dave arrived back to their dorm in the dark. As he slipped in the door, he turned the light on to illuminate the dark room, and nearly jumped out of him skin to see Gamzee sitting on the sofa waiting for him. Sometimes, when he wasn’t being a spaced-out weirdo, the guy kinda creeped him out.

“Oh fuck. Hey buddy, I’m so glad you’re here in the dark, I’ve always wanted to try cardiac arrest. Sounded like fun.” Dave dumped his backpack on the floor as noticed Gamzee was dressed in what he usually wore out kishin hunting, and Dave got an uneasy feeling in his gut.  
“I found us a witch, broski.” Gamzee’s words were calm, as if it were all normal and this wasn’t going against their instructions just hours earlier.   
“What? How did you – wait, it doesn’t matter. We can’t hunt a witch, Gam. We’re—“  
“You and I both know that was bullshit and Witches don’t come easy, brother. We can sit here and listen to that square’s advice or we can get out there and make you a motherfuckin death scythe whether he likes it or not.” Gamzee stood and approached Dave, standing close enough to make his retreat further into the apartment awkward. The only way to go, his body language said, was back out the door. Dave shifted uncomfortably; He didn’t know about this, but a part of him knew that this was the only goal he knew how to strive for, and having to live without that goal, sitting around unable to complete it, would drive him nuts.   
Slowly, knowing it was a bad idea but electing to not give a fuck, Dave nodded. “Yeah man, you know where it’s at. I mean fuck it. Let’s just do it.”

Gamzee held out his arm, and Dave grasped his wrist, just in time for his body to begin to morph.

Where his hand had encircled Gamzee’s wrist, a bronzy cuff of metal formed, two short gun barrels on top and ammunition encircling the rest of the compact but functional projectile weapon. A chain dropped from this cuff, linking the other part of Dave’s weapon form to the cuff – a sword. Its hilt ended in a bronze apple sculpted for the pommel, sitting at the end of the black leather wrapped handle. The hilt fanned out in six thin decorative strips that looked like spread wings, three long ‘feathers’ either side. The silvery blade stretched from the hilt for just over a foot until, abruptly, the metal ended in a jagged edge where it appeared to have been broken. Whether this was just the nature of his weapon form, of if he’d somehow been broken, Dave didn’t know. He didn’t remember.

“I knew you’d come around bro.” Gamzee held the weight of the sword in his right hand, the weapon linked to the gun cuff by its glittering chain. “Let’s go, we don’t have much time to get there.”

And with that, they were gone, setting off at a brisk pace to the outskirts of the barrier and into the unprotected industrial districts, all the way to the shipyards in the bay. It would be there that they would meet their Witch.


	2. Act 1, Part 2 - Control

Just like the night before, Dave and Gamzee found themselves stealing through the night in search of an evil target. Gamzee lead the way, carrying Dave in his weapon from through a labyrinth of shipping containers, seemingly searching for something with uncharacteristic intent. Maybe it was just because it was the most crucial kill of their career, one that would set them back to square one if they failed, Still, Dave’s attempts to ask him where and how he’d found a witch fell on deaf ears.

Finally, Gamzee stopped when Dave could hear splashing. The sound was metallic, his hearing and vision skewed in his weapon form, but it was there. And when he shifted his vision to the front of his blade, he could see a dark, hooded figure standing on the docks, facing them. Absurdly, it looked almost like she was there waiting for them.  
Gamzee approached her with steady determination, and the closer he got, the more he could see. Her outfit was all one piece, a dress with long, tight sleeves that ended in puffs at the wrists and a skirt that fell loosely from her waist down. The hood that covered her head and disguised her face was oddly shaped, coming to two points above her head with decorative strings with odd beads dangling off the tip of each. The whole outfit was black, save for the bright red shoes she wore on her feet. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw the glint of a pair of glasses on her face. She held a spindly broom in one hand, its unbristled side resting on the wood of the dock.

When they were just a few feet away, the ghostly figure reacted. Menacingly, she raised her hand, and a static green energy began to encircle her hand, threateningly. Her arm sat straight as a silent warning, which Gamzee ignored. There were several tense moments while the two seemed to size each other up. And then, the fight began.

Gamzee raised his wrist and fired off two shots form Dave’s cuff gun. The gun was a useful asset, though the recoil tended to mark the user a bit over time. The witch moved out of the way with lighting speed, as if her body had been yanked aside by some force unseen. Her ball of green… whatever that was, missed Gamzee harmlessly, and he held his wrist up for Dave to fire again before she could throw another. When your weapon was conscious, you didn’t need a trigger. The shot missed, but her dodge gave him a window to get in close. Then the real blows began, and Dave began to look more closely and notice something was off.

The first thing he noticed was that her movements were unnatural and robotic. The whole scene looked rehearsed, but Gamzee was moving normally, meaning this Witch was the one acting funny. The second thing he noticed was that she could, at any time, be using that electric magic to blast Gamzee, but instead she was merely defending off his blows with her broom. She wasn’t taking opportunities or hitting him back at all. And lastly, she was completely, totally silent.

“Gamz,” Dave shouted over the clack of her broom smacking into the crook of his blade and winged hilt, “Something’s weird.”  
“Shhh…. Guh! What’s weird?” Gamzee grunted and kneed her in the shin, and injury she seemed to have no reaction to.   
“Look at her, god damn it? Don’t you think she’s acting a little… I dunno, strange? She’s not attacking or running away, just standing---“

As if she’s heard his complaints, she jumped backwards and whipped her broom underneath her. Within seconds she had flown around them and was flying off down the street. 

“Now look what you’ve done!” Gamzee scolded as he set off at a sprint after her. But Dave was not at all put at ease, because he was sure she was flying slower than she could be. Something was definitely not right, and his Meister being so unusually crabby was just the cherry on top. Dave refrained from asking him about it though, for fear of making it worse.

Their chase led them into the depths of the city, now in the more residential areas. It was there, near a bakery not far from their dorms, that they caught up to her, Gamzee leaping up to slice the bramble of sticks off the back of her broom. The Witch plummeted into the ground, her broom disappearing with a puff of smoke, and she dragged herself upright, her clothes in disarray and her hood loose. So loose, that when the wind kicked up it blow it clean off her head, and her face was visible in the moonlight.

She wore round spectacles, with almost comically large lenses which seemed to work off her outfit to make her look even more witchy. It was too dark still, to see the colour of her eyes or her features too clearly, but her most striking feature was visible plainly; a pair of white dog ears, sitting limply on her head. They weren’t quite pressed back in fear or anger, but rather uninfluenced, as if she was sleeping. Most witches had some sort of animalistic influence, but for what it was worth witches' traits could be far uglier. And, to Dave’s sudden and very confusing distress, most witches were not so violently, impossibly, familiar.

The cut and length of her hair felt like something he’d known, and the ears rang bells in his brain that were just too far to grasp. Where had he seen her before? Surely not at the academy, and he’d never, to his memory, seen a witch up close. But as Gamzee prepared to re-engage the target, Dave forced himself to choke out some sort of alarm.

“Gamzee, wait!” Dave’s voice rang metallically into the quiet street, and his meister looked down at him with a very strange look. It wasn’t quite anger, but seemed somehow far worse.  
“What? Do you think we have time to wait? She’ll kill us if we don’t kill—“  
“Then why is she waiting for us?” Dave challenged, though as if to prove him wrong again, she immediately attacked, claw-like nails out to scratch and claw at the boy holding him. 

Gamzee lashed out, knocking her on the temple with the apple-shaped pommel. Again, she seemed to not react to something that should have hurt, given the leaf at the end of the apple had put a gash above her eyebrow, narrowly missing her spectacles. He was sure now, almost certain, that there was something going on here, and Gamzee refused to see it. But Dave realized with sudden panic that there wasn’t a lot of time to make him see it. In that creepy way that she was just standing there blankly, she waited as Gamzee lunged, swinging Dave low in a path that, unobstructed, would slice the Witch’s guts out of her body. 

He only had a moment to think, and react. There was no way she could block the blow, not without that broom, and she didn’t seem to be moving to do so anyway. He couldn’t place it, but a strong feeling in his gut did not want to hurt this girl. Maybe it was because he felt like he knew exactly the way her eyes would scrunch up like an elf’s when she smiled or that he could imagine her tending to a box of flowers on a windowsill, though he couldn’t for the life of him know where such an imaginative speculation came from. But given his circumstances, given that she looked so familiar – he couldn’t ignore that. It might be the biggest mistake of his life, it might get him killed, but maybe, just maybe, this Witch had some answers. And, though he would dismiss it as nonsense to anyone who dare accuse some part of him deep down did not want her to be hurt.

So, before the blade could do the deed, Dave transformed himself, becoming a fleshy, squishy human just in time to crash harmlessly into her. Well, more harmlessly than the sword would have been, in any case.

“What the flying fuck!?” Gamzee roared, and somewhere on a nearby roof, a nesting bird cried out and flew off. Dave groaned, feeling his weight on the squishiness under him. He knew better than to lay around on this thing, so he quickly scooted back and transformed his arm into a blade, ready in case she tried anything. But the witch stayed on the ground, her eyes staring blankly into space between them.  
“I told you. Something’s funny and… and…” Dave stammered, her behaviour beginning to creep out and confuse him even more than usual. Waving his arms in distressed confusion at the vegetable witch now lying in the street, he shot his partner a frustrated look “Look at this!? You don’t’ find this unusual?”  
“You know what you just did, right? You could have been a death scythe, and unless you let me kill her right now, you aren’t going to be. Do you understand?” Gamzee was spitting with fury, but Dave was shaking. He couldn’t do it. It could be a delusion, he could be wrong. But what if he wasn’t?  
“She looks familiar, Gamzee! I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t kill her.” Dave looked at his partner with pleading eyes, but all he got in return was terrifying fury.   
“She’s not fucking familiar. She’s not special. She’s a bloodsucking witch and I’m killing her whether you do or not, so you can either take her soul or walk away. Either way, I’m not letting a motherfucking witch ass motherfuck—“

But Dave wasn’t listening already. He’d realized, with suddenly clarity, how close the school loomed above them now. Slowly, carefully, he began to speak over Gamzee’s rant. “If she’s a witch, how come she’s inside the barrier?”

In the moment after those words escaped Dave’s mouth, several things happened once. The witch suddenly convulsed, began to gasp and thrash on the ground, then slumped, eyes closed. Gamzee looked down at her, deathly pale. He was muttering something Dave couldn’t catch.  
“I’m sorry would you maybe care to repeat tha…”

Dave trailed off when Gamzee gave him the most furious, almost murderous look he’d ever seen on anyone’s face ever, even in movies and shit. “What have you done?”  
“I’m taking her to the headmaster, Gamzee. Okay? I’m taking her to the school. Don’t stop me. Don’t even try I will kick your ass to the curb. I’m sorry buddy, this is some shit I just gotta do.”

The boys held each others’ gazes for a long time, then Gamzee spat at Dave’s feet and whirled, storming away to fuck knows where. Not in the direction of their dorm, for one thing. Dave found he was tensed up, only relaxing a little as Gamzee left him alone. Now though, he had another problem. 

He had to get this…. Whatever it was… to the SWMA. The Headmaster would know what to do with her. Maybe they’d find out what she was and how she got past the barrier, but Dave knew he really just hoped she’d respond to interrogation and for the first time in years, he could uncover some lost knowledge of his past. If a vaguely familiar furry was the way to do that, then so fucking be it. He hoped his meister would forgive him; he was way too cool to be caught saying it, but the guy was a blast and had really grown on Dave. To see him so angry was a slap in the face.

He knelt to the ground, tugged her arms over his shoulders, and rolled her onto his back, carrying her like Quasimodo all hunched and shit, slowly up the street to the SWMA and hopefully toward some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say here that i hate to unnecessarily villainise characters, as i hate it when other people do that with characters i love, but i promise there's a reason behind it all. I managed to avoid real antagonists with my last story but here it won't be so easy. That's all i can say on the subject now because spoilers! Hope you're enjoying so far.


	3. Act 1, Part 3 - Unknown

Dave hadn’t really thought about the ungodly hour, but when he arrived at the front steps to his school and looked up at the firmly shut gates, he wondered how he’d exactly expected to find Headmaster Egbert at this time of night. It was a good six hours until anyone might even plausibly arrive for school, and he wasn’t about to leave her on the steps with a little post-it note stuck to her forehead. And forget about taking her back to his dorm and dabbing her forehead with a moist towelette – what was he, a matronly side character? Nah, he was king of this shit and he ain’t no romcom asshole either. The only thing left to do was catch the attention of campus security.

First, he tried knocking on the gates. No luck there. Next, he took to throwing rocks, which pattered uselessly short of the building even with his best throw. He knew there was always someone patrolling the grounds, so he couldn’t be told it was impossible to catch their attention. 

Half an hour in, he was already screaming out some N*Sync lyrics before he finally caught someone’s attention. He’d never thought of it before, but the staff were the ones who patrolled most nights, and thank the heavens – he got Nurse Maryam. Granted, she was unimpressed by his noise, but as soon as she spotted the animal-esque girl lying on the ground at Dave’s feet, she nearly had a heart attack.

“Dave Strider, explain yourself this instant!” Maryam cried out, unwilling to lock the gates. He seemed to be slightly less made when she saw it was unconscious, but as far as most people around here were concerned, the only good witch was a dead one.  
“Miss, it’s exactly what it looks like,” Dave began, holding his hands out in front of him in a defensive gesture. “It’s a witch, well at least we thought it was a witch but then I realised she was inside the barrier and then when I stopped Gamzee from killing her she kinda had this weird seizure and passed out but I’m at least 90% sure she is still alive so. Is the principal here?”  
Maryam, after the story, looked at him incredulously. “You think Headmaster Egbert lives on this campus? Ah, never mind. We have to get her detained before she wakes up.” She produced a staff Master Key from her sleeve and unlocked the gate, swinging it aside from Dave’s path. “Be quick about it, and you can give me the details on the way.”

//

Cold. The first thing the witch registered was that she was laying on a cold, hard surface – likely a floor. There was also talking, muffled as if on the other side of a door. Three men, she assumed by the deep voices. Experimentally, she moved an arm, and felt immediately an ache in her muscles, like she’d slept on every single one of them wrong. 

Now that she was more awake, the voices were clearer. After opening her eye a crack, she realized they were on the other side of an open door, not a closed one. She could see a man sitting at his desk, two younger men – nearly boys, in fact – standing on the other side of it. Where was she? With sudden acuteness, she realized she had no idea. She remembered nothing, not how she got there or… anything. She was a blank slate, born moments ago when she’d woken up. She knew herself, knew her own ways, she felt, but if she tried to recall her mother or father, the place where she grew up – nothing. She could remember the names of ocean and continents, but not any person or place close to her heart. Nothing personal, which made her wonder how she could remember her own personality. But it was there, she knew herself, she thought, because she would be a vegetable if she didn’t. A void gaped in her memory, so large it was no wonder it had taken her only seconds to notice.

She strained to hear the conversation in the next room, keeping her eyes closed. She knew, she realized just now, that she had exceptional hearing. Her animal ears were not news to her, at least. Why she had them and what for, she had no idea. How long? Not the faintest. But right now, the conversation was more interesting.

“You two directly disobeyed my judgement. You were not ready to slay your hundredth soul, and your behaviour only proves this. You brought a witch here, and endangered every person in this school.” The man sounded authoritative and harsh, and the two boys were silent. When he said witch, a spike of familiarity stirred. Witch? Yes, witch… she had a feeling that was her. She was a witch. But why was she here? She felt like she wasn’t supposed to be here, wasn’t supposed to let people know of her. If only…. She shook herself. She wouldn’t allow herself to feel like someone was missing, that she had to rely on someone else, especially when she didn’t have even the slightest clue who that person, that fleeting thought, could be. She listened on.  
“Sir, we’re sorry. I didn’t want to bring her here – I wanted to motherfucking slice her the fuck into next week but fuckin soft-tits here…” The slurred voice trailed off as the other younger voice began to argue.  
“We weren’t even supposed to kill her anyway! Plus she was a special case. This shit is important, its game changing. She got past, and we don’t know how. The Headmaster had to see it.” There was the sound of papers shuffling and a drawer closing, and the older man sighed.  
“You were both in the wrong, but I do appreciate you coming to me about it,” The older man began. “And Dave if it’s as you say and she may have some sort of connection to your predicament, it’s worth investigating, even if she didn’t have an apparent ability to bypass our security barriers. I will settle for giving the both of you after school detention for the next week.” Neither of them, apparently, had the stupidity to argue. “But for now, we have more pressing matters. Our guest is awake.”

Two words rang in her head that made vague sense to her – soul perception. She had the feeling it had something to do with him being able to observe her soul’s wavelengths, which may be how he knew she was awake. Footsteps approached her room, and she knew it was futile to continue to pretend to be asleep. She sat up and got herself a good look at the three men.

The first was a professionally dressed man, presumably the authority figure she’d heard. He wore a tie and had hat hair. The second to enter set her blood running cold. He was tall, lean, and had a dark face with eyes that bore into her. Neither of the two seemed to see, but this one was staring at her with pure, unmasked malice, and she felt like she may have seen him somewhere before. She tore her eyes away, looking for any excuse to look elsewhere. Her eyes finally settled on the last to enter the room, and she was hit with a familiar feeling again. This time it was stronger. Though a pair of darkly tinted shades covered his eyes, this one felt far, far kinder to her. She didn’t have time to linger on them though – the three were standing in the small room. 

She noticed now that faint bars of some kind of red, glass-like energy boxed her into one corner of the room. She didn’t have to test them to know they were magic proof and wouldn’t allow her to escape – they covered the floor and walls too. Because the three didn’t sit, she stood instead so she didn’t feel so intimidated. The oldest spoke first.

“Hello, sweetie.” Patronising. Good. “You don’t need to be alarmed – we just want to ask some questions.”  
She found herself giggling, a little bitterly. “It’s not the questions I’m worried about so much as the maiming that comes after.” She knew her only tiny shot at life was guilt. She was innocent. She gave the blonde an accusatory look, something telling her he would be least inclined to want her murdered. She could work with that.  
The older man sighed. “We don’t plan on maiming you either. You are… well. Do you know why you’re here?”  
“Would you believe me if I said I couldn’t remember even if I wanted to humour you?” Instead of the reaction she expected, the older man gave the blonde a peculiar look. Jade glanced between the two of them, frowning.

“Well, I’ll make this quick by telling you that I can perceive souls, so if you’re hiding something from me I may very well sense it right away. Understand?” The older man tilted his head, waiting for a response. When she swallowed and nodded, he nodded back.”Good. Well first off, you’re not a witch, are you? Not a real one.”  
Jade frowned. She was about to say she didn’t know, but somehow she felt like he was right. “I think so,” she replied cautiously, frowning in concentration.  
“So what are you?” He prompted. Their stares burned holes in her.  
“I… I don’t know. I honestly… I don’t think I’m going to be very helpful. I want to help you, but I can’t. I can’t…”  
The blonde leaned in then, cutting off whatever the older man was about to say. “You can’t what?”  
“I can’t remember anything. I don’t even know how I got here.”

This was apparently significant news. The older man gave that blonde a funny look again. The taller boy looked like he didn’t want to be there if he couldn’t slit her throat while he was at it. The older man was quickly back onto the questions. 

“What do you remember? Do you remember fighting these two… or, this one holding a weapon?” He gestured to the tall boy. Jade shook her head, but something about that tickled her brain. A sudden burst of clarity told her that these two must then be a weapon and a meister. She liked the taller boy even less after this realization, though she wasn’t sure why.  
“I don’t. The only events I can remember are the last few minutes. The rest is… encyclopaedia stuff. Maps, languages, famous people. Nothing….”  
“Nothing personal but your name.” The blonde spoke again, looking as if she had the answers to the universe. It was unnerving. She nodded.  
“That’s correct.”  
The headmaster looked somehow impressed as well. If she didn’t know better, it was almost as if her lack of knowledge was somehow the most worthwhile information ever.

“Well then,” he said, clearing his throat. “I suppose we better at least ask for it, since that’s all you know? I’m Headmaster Egbert of the Skaian Weapon Meister Academy. These two are students here,” he went on to gesture to the taller boy, then the blonde boy. “Gamzee Makara, a meister, and Dave Strider, his weapon and partner. You know what those are, yes?”  
The witch nodded her understanding. “My name is Jade, Ha…. Halley?” Her brow creased as she struggled phonetically with her own name while the others looked on expectantly.  
“Harley?” The blonde – Dave – offered unsurely, like he was trying to figure out the answer to a trivia question with her. She gave him a funny look, again trying to figure out whether she knew him or not.  
“Yes. Harley. Jade Harley.” Jade looked at him with a squint, as if trying to see a distant object or read very fine print.

The Headmaster turned to his students. “Dave, could you fetch Nurse Maryam for me? And Gamzee, could you run to the cafeteria and ask the lunch ladies to put together some kind of meal? Meat included, I think?” He turned to Jade and raised his eyebrows. She nodded, suddenly aware of how hungry she was. They both headed out, seemingly eager to leave for their own separate reasons.

The headmaster turned back to her. “Well, Jade Harley. I can tell just by the feel of your soul that you’re not any normal kind of witch. And I don’t think killing you would have granted Dave death scythe status as a result of this... peculiarity. In fact I am almost certain. Though even if I thought your soul would work, I doubt Dave would have let you be killed anyway.”  
“And why not?” Jade challenged, narrowing her eyes and glancing between the three of them.  
“Well you see, aside from the two years he’s been here, Dave arrived under much the same circumstances you did. Apparently dragged himself here, blacked out on the steps, and woke up the next morning with no idea who he was or where he was.”  
Jade gulped. “I…. I see. But that doesn’t explain…”  
“Well, let me fill you in. Dave and Gamzee have killed 99 kishins, but they have not yet fulfilled their potential as weapon and meister, so I saw fit to suspend their witch hunt until they met my standards. Apparently, one or both of them were so intent on making Dave a death scythe – a more powerful weapon, that is – that they hunted for their witch soul anyway. How they came across you, I have no clue, but you fought them. According to Dave, you were moving quite unnaturally, like some sort of robot or doll. Which you don’t seem to be doing now, which leads me to suspect this behaviour and your memory loss may have something to do with a third party.” 

Jade’s head reeled. This was a lot to take in. “So why aren’t I dead, again?”  
“Because,” the headmaster took a seat in a delicate chair that he pulled closer to her ‘cage’ form the opposite wall. “He claims you looked familiar. This might sound trivial, but you must understand that’s a big deal for him. He can’t even remember his own mother’s face.”  
Jade frowned, remembering the twinge of recognition she herself had felt when he entered the room. “I think I understand that, yes. So do you think…” she paused to shuffle closer to the bars, sitting on her knees on the floor so she could comfortably converse. “Do you think someone might have..?”  
“I don’t know for sure -- about any of this, really. I can only speculate. But given you seem to be some rare kind of Witch, and given that you were both under the same condition when you came here and you appear to know each other on some vague level, I am inclined to believe your circumstances are related. Moreover, you were behaving as a witch would under whatever…. Control or state you were under when you fought them. So your case may be related to witches somehow. In any case, you appear to have known each other at some point before Dave’s appearance here. Your memory loss has to be related so we can safely assume both events happened at the same time, but Dave either escaped or was let go…. Or sent here. He arrived two years ago, which means wherever you’ve been, it’s likely you were there for at least two years.”  
“But why??” Jade huffed, scratching behind her ear. Her head was reeling with questions.  
“Well, we have yet to find out, but perhaps whoever you were with wants you back, and we might be able to find out.”

Just then, Dave arrived with a woman Jade could only presume to be a nurse. The woman greeted her warmly, Dave apparently having filled her in on Jade’s name. Dave himself was leaning against the wall avoiding eye contact – out of bashfulness or some other reason, Jade could not tell. Following shortly behind them was Gamzee, that distasteful boy, with a plate of food. As much as she was inclined to dislike him, he brought her a blessing that she’s swim across a sea of thumb tacks to get right now. He slid the plate through the bars, which apparently allowed non-magicals though. 

“Ah yes, I don’t think we’ll be needing this anymore either. I believe she is trustworthy.” The headmaster picked up a peculiar device, one of eight in the room, which sat at each corner of her cell. When displaced, the red walls vanished, and Jade stood up with her plate awkwardly, unsure if she really needed to move. The Nurse, whom they called Maryam, brought her a chair, and Jade sat down. They began to talk amongst themselves.

While they quietly discussed whether removing the barrier was safe, as if she couldn’t hear, Jade focussed her attention on more important matters – chow. The potato could wait – she was going for the steak. Though now that the plate was in her lap and she hovered above it, she smelled something… odd. Jade raised her head and sniffed the air, her brow creasing in concentration. It smelled like chemicals… cleaner. Maybe some kind of shoe polish? It was invading the scent of her…

Her food!

Jade raised the plate and squinted at the food, and her eyes watered from the fumes of something. Curious to find out what it was, she reached up and jabbed the fork into the steak, and lifted it, sniffing at it. Yes, this was almost certainly it. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what kind of sauce they thought they’d put on the steak, it slipped off her fork. In an attempt to avoid it getting on her dress, she snapped her hand out and caught it, just in time. The moment of relief was fleeting however, for within seconds of her hand closing around the meat, her skin began to burn with the heat of a thousand suns.

//

Dave wasn’t gonna lie – a little bit of pee may have come out when the Witch began screaming at the top of her lungs. At first he thought she might be crazy or possessed again, and his arm was transformed into his jagged blade in an instant. It took him, and the others in the room, a few moments to realize she had flung the meat she was holding, and her plate, onto the floor, and her hand was covered in angry red burns, before concluding she wasn't the one doing any attacking here.

“What the fuck is happening?” Dave shouted above the screaming, as Nurse Maryam crouched to attempt to see what was wrong and the Headmaster stood form his seat abruptly.  
“There was something on it!” She cried, thrusting her hand forward as if it was all the hand’s fault. “It burned!”

Maryam stood up and attempted to help Jade to her feet as well, which was more or less a success. “Okay honey, it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m gonna take you to the infirmary, kay? Get you cleaned up?”  
“Maryam,” The Headmaster warned, but backed down when she gave him a look. Dave knew as well as the Nurse did that she needed medical attention. The man finally nodded. “Jade, please keep your hood up when you walk to the infirmary, got it? Look at nobody, none of the students at all. Head down, understand?”

Despite, her obvious distraction and the look of pain wrought on her face, she nodded and attempted to pull up her hood with her free hand. Watching her struggle, Dave itched to just step over there and pull it up, but he didn’t. He let Maryam do the work.

And suddenly, he was angry. Obviously, she’d been meant to eat that steak. And Gamzee, who’d wanted to kill her, had given it to her – he doubted the cook had better motivation than that. And then, he realized he couldn’t see Gamzee in the room. At all.

“That mother fuck…. Here is he? Where’d he go?” All three of the others, looked up, though the Headmaster looked unsurprised.  
“He left quite promptly after delivering Miss Harley’s food,” he explained simply, and Dave groaned.  
“You realize he’s guilty as fuck right? Man I tell ya that guy has been acting whack ever since we got to 98. I’m surprised he hasn’t been climbing buildings and shit shouting ‘I am zool’.” Dave ran a hand through his hair.  
“Well, we’ll catch him later. For now, we must get Jade to the infirmary. Got your hood, dear?” Jade nodded, tugging her hood with her hand. When the two points sat over her ears, they just looked like one of those animal hoodies with the stuffed ears. She should avoid detection with any luck. 

The parade through the halls of the school with a strange girl, the school Nurse, that weird sophomore who never took off his dumb shades and Headmaster Egbert commenced. Even if the other kids didn’t know she had dog ears on her head, she might as well have with the way they were staring after her. They were going to have a hard time explaining this one away.


End file.
